Today in History: WWI: The library of the Catholic University of Leuven is destroyed by the German Army in 1914

The following is a chronological list of notable events that occurred on August 25 throughout history:

766 – Emperor Constantine V humiliates nineteen high-ranking officials, after discovering a plot against him. He executes the leaders, Constantine Podopagouros and his brother Strategios.

1543 – António Mota and a few companions become the first Europeans to visit Japan.

1609 – Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.

1835 – The first Great Moon Hoax article is published in The New York Sun, announcing the discovery of life and civilisation on the Moon.

1914 – World War I: The library of the Catholic University of Leuven is deliberately destroyed by the German Army. Hundreds of thousands of irreplaceable volumes and Gothic and Renaissance manuscripts are lost.

1940 – World War II: The first Bombing of Berlin by the British Royal Air Force.

1944 – World War II: Paris is liberated by the Allies.

1981 – Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn.

2001 – American singer Aaliyah and several members of her entourage are killed as their overloaded aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport, Bahamas.

2012 – Voyager 1 spacecraft enters interstellar space, becoming the first man-made object to do so.